Ryu Katsunaga
Ryu Katsunaga is Kota's best friend and roommate from the Police Academy. He's the type to completely switch personalities, depending on whether he's at work or spending his free time. He's first introduced as Kota's accomplice, who's come to work on Yui Sendo's case against her father, in what seems to be by Kota's request. It is later revealed, however, that they are in fact very close friends. He knows of Kota being married to Kako, and supports the matrimony fully, especially as he now has a new subject he can use to tease Kota. Appearance Ryu is a young, relatively tall man, 24 years of age. He's got dark, presumably black hair, and what appears to be dark brown eyes. He's also got a beauty mark underneath his right eye. Personality Whilst putting on a mask of utter professionality at work, outside of it he's noted to be a complete sleezebag by Kota. He's flirty by nature, giving off the impression that he'd "... take anyone that breathes". He seems to enjoy teasing the people around him, a rather unsurprising trait of a big brother. He's especially got himself set on teasing Kota and Mikado, the two perfect victims of his playful demeanour. For Kota, his approach is putting words into his mouth and making assumptions about his love life just to get a reaction out of him. When it comes to Mikado, he showers her with compliments that could possibly come from a genuine place, just so he can see her twist and turn in her skin, embarrassed and taken aback by his forwardness. Background Not much is known of Ryu's background, other than that he's the eldest of three children- he has two younger sisters. While the older one of the pair of young women is a very brilliant college student, the younger one is a complete ditz. He seems to have a good relationship with both of them. He's the same age as Kota, and the two met at the Police Academy, where they were roommates. During their time at the academy they became such close friends that by the time they got separated from each other, they both became a bit wistful at first. Ryu got transferred to the Oto Police Department in October, the same month in which Kota has his birthday. Once Ryu found out the news of his transfer, he got excited, knowing that he'd get to work as Kota's colleague. Relationships Kota Sagano When Kota met Ryu for the first time, he got the initial impression that Ryu wasn't his type of person. Despite this, they ended up becoming close friends, as Kota found it easy to be around Ryu. The two seem to share a lot of good memories from the times when they were still students at the academy, and they were even roommates at the time. Once they were assigned their first posts, Kota cried a bit, having to separate from his friend. Ryu got the news of him getting transferred to Oto in October, Kota's birthday month. The news of his transfer made him happy. Once he got there, he soon got involved with Yui Sendo's case through Kota, after Yui's father kidnapped her and hurt Kako, who had tried to intervene to save Yui. He works alongside an unnamed female investigator, interviewing at least Kako, Heisuke and Akari, though it is plausible that the female investigator might also have interviewed Jiro and Mikado. Much later, after the case had been solved and Mr. Sendo taken to custody, Ryu had gone out to party and ended up so drunk he'd had to stay at Kota's place. This is when he meets Kako, Mikado and Jiro for the first time, as they had a study date planned with Kota for the day. Ryu isn't hesitant to stay over and help Kota in tutoring the kids, however, he ends up being something of a nuisance to Kota, as he keeps flirting with Mikado and giving her love advice. Kota doesn't seem to think he's genuine in his approaches, calling it "harassment" and apologizing to Mikado for him. Eventually, both Kota and Ryu end up getting kicked out of Kota's living room into the hallway with Jiro, as they start annoying Mikado with their antics. There, they take their time to listen to Jiro, as he tells them about Heisuke's aspirations to become a police officer, and how it inspires and motivates him to do his best as well. Ryu and Kota seem to share a moment of pride over Jiro's speech and tell him to study and work hard to reach his goals. The same evening, Ryu forgot his wallet at Kota's place when he went to take Mikado and Jiro home, and has to return to get it. When Kota raises his suspicions of him having done it on purpose, he denies it, saying that he can read the room and knows Kota is rather slow in his approach (it is to be assumed they're talking about sex). This irks Kota, however, he's not fully offended by Ryu's comment, seeing as there seems to be a bit of truth in it. The two share a smoke with coffee outside on the apartment parking lot in celebration of the lovable group of youths they're now both tangled with. Mikado Yaguchi Ryu started flirting with Mikado pretty much from the moment he got to know her name. Whether that's him teasing her or feeling a genuine attraction to her is up to debate, however, he did say he likes girls like Mikado to Kota and Jiro. Ryu and Mikado's first proper conversation is about Mikado's heartbreak over Jiro, whom she in the conversations didn't name. Ryu tries his best to cheer her up about it, saying that a girl as cute as she would definitely find a new man in no time, even going as far as telling her once she grows a little older she'll have more than enough guys to choose from. Heisuke Okami Ryu's met Heisuke twice, both times for work. As such, how he'd actually treat him is still covered in mystery, but he thinks of Heisuke as Kotas's protege, teasing the older one about it whenever he can find a chance to. There is a possibility that he's aware of Heisuke being Kota's rival in love. Jiro Nagakura Ryu is met with compliments and admiration once he meets Jiro for the first time, however, these sweet words are immediately followed by Jiro asking him how many people he's had sex with, following a similar pattern to how Jiro initially met Kota. Ryu answers him by saying "... About 10.5," which leaves a lot up to the imagination. Whatever he meant by that 0.5, it gives enough information to Kako to comment that it scares her a bit. Kako Motoya Kako and Ryu haven't really interacted that much. Kako was dying to make a good impression on him when they first met, but that went completely out the window because of Mikado's high and mighty approach to him and Jiro's weird, embarrassing sex-related questions. Luckily for her though, she quickly comes to notice that Ryu seems to be quite a weirdo himself, and is no more bothered by their odd first encounter. Ryu knows of her and Kota being married and supports the relationship, going as far as giving them space to be alone when he deems it necessary. Gallery Quotes (To Jiro, about Mikado) '"You turned her down? What a waste... If I was in high school, I'd be all over her..."'Volume 13, Case. 47, page 30 Trivia References Category:Side Characters Category:The Police Force Category:Characters